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Homeopathy – What, how, yes, no, anything
I don’t know if the subject of homeopathy has occurred on the forums before (surely), but anyway it just popped in my head and I need to get rid of it immediately before it starts to work, so here it is:
Homeopathy – what do you want to contribute about that?
For me, Homeopathy is much like Government, in that, umm, well, it just doesn’t seem to work, does it? And it sure costs a lot. But that’s only my limited and small minded experience with it.
You might have a completely different relation with it, and I am curious how you feel about this. Do you use Homeopathic “stuff”? Or have you in the past? Why (not)? Does/did it work for you? What did you use and what for?
Please look up the definition of Homeopathy first. I don’t mean herbal or Chinese medicine, or acupuncture, or eating flowers etcetera: only pure Homeopathy, treating your ailments with minute doses of natural substances that in larger amounts would make you sick. These dilutions are often not containing any molecule of the original stuff, but by shaking it about the practitioners claim that the solution “remembers” the original substance and works nevertheless. But if you want to talk about one of these other alternative ways of healing, by all means, share your story.
I have not done this, but I used Chinese herbs as a mucolytic and they clearly worked, and fast. They were expensive though and I had to pay for it myself. Acupuncture I tried once, but I don’t think it worked.
Anything that pops up in your mind right now please write it down and post it below. This could be very interesting!
Thanks in advance!
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3 Replies
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I grew up hearing about “homeopathic remedies” and believing that meant “natural/herbal remedies.” I did not understand what homeopathy was until well into adulthood. I have never tried it, nor can I imagine a world in which I would.
However, I’ve tried a variety of different herbs and other supplements throughout my lifetime. My mom was a big fan of herbs and natural substances over western medication, even with my sisters and I having CF. She didn’t reject treatments or medications that were prescribed for us, but she preferred to attempt to treat things like increased cough, fever, stomach issues, etc. with some kind of herbal concoction before turning to medication. She was also pretty wary of vaccines and my family never got the flu shot or anything of the sort throughout my entire childhood.
As an older teen and adult, I knew I wanted to approach things differently than my mother did. On occasion, I’ll still use natural substances in addition to my regular medications at times (with the support of my doctor and/or CF pharmacist).
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Thanks Paul, you are correct in your assessment of Homeopathy except that in some people it ‘does work’. So do placebos and it appears that H works only by its placebo effect. I have seen no other plausible reason for it working.
There are many herbs (Chinese and others) which have profound and beneficial effects. The problem is it is usually unknown how much active ingredient is in the dose. In the 1960’s when I graduated a common medication for heart failure was Digitalis, an extract from the plant Foxglove. It had very little safety margin – increasing the dose even by 25% could be toxic. The problem was that the amount of active drug, digitoxin, in a sample varied greatly from one plant to another, from one batch to another etc. and you did not know whether it would work, be effective or be toxic till you tried it. Then Buroughs Welcome converted it to Digoxin which was able to be assayed and standardised and their Lanoxin became standard use but still with only a small margin of safety. Many herbalists today fail to recognise the story and origins of Lanoxin.
Many drugs of Western medicine have their origins in herbs, yeasts and animals, Aspirin & Heparin, Oestrogens used in contraception and so many more. And more are being found as scientists search often using clues from tribal medicines.
A major problem occurs when herbal medicine is used on top of modern western medicine. An example I had was a dog hemorrhaging from its stomach. It had been put on Aspirin and also Willow Bark Extract for arthritis without considering that the active ingredient in both was acetylsalacytic acid – a potent anti-inflammatory drug that is also a potent anti-coagulant (depresses platelets).
Whenever two or more drugs are used we must be watchful for interactions especially those that may be harmful.
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I find natural substances to work, but only to a certain extent or period of time, where I’ll then have to rely on the workings of modern medicine.
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